Donald Vaughan, in criticizing the Globe for not mentioning former House Speaker Thomas McGee’s opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians in his obituary, knew he was off the mark when he wrote: “I generally subscribe to the idea that one should not speak ill of the dead. . .” So then, what purpose does his letter with its strong, vindictive language serve?

My father, Representative George J. Bourque of Fitchburg, served in the House of Representatives with Speaker Thomas McGee from 1968 to 1990 and regarded him as a friend and a man of conviction. McGee’s legacy will be in the lives of those he helped and in the lives changed at the McGee Substance Abuse Unit in Pittsfield.